This Verne classic gets off to a cracking start with a bunch of Union prisoners escaping from a Confederate prison via hot air balloon and winding up on a mysterious island where they run into strange creatures and pirates. Unfortunately there's not enough creatures and the pirates are dull and after the opening third I found this a slog, notably dragged down by the fact the characters were all the same (one was a faithful black, a Verne trope).
There's two characters from other Verne books - Tom Ayrton from In Search of the Castaways, not particularly memorable, and the legendary Captain Nemo, who is awesome and totally brightens proceedings - but he doesn't come til the very end when he gives his back story, reveals he's been helping out, and dies. If only Nemo had made himself known earlier and interacted with the others! I did get a shock on reading Nemo was Indian -talk about whitewash casting over the years. So it ends on a high but I did find it hard to get through.
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